DC history began in 1790 when Congress directed selection of a new capital site, 100 sq mi, along the Potomac. The seat of government was transferred from Philadelphia to Washington on Dec. 1, 1800, and President John Adams became the first resident in the White House.

The lyrics come from a poem written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key, a 35-year-old amateur poet who wrote "Defence of Fort McHenry", after seeing the bombardment of Fort McHenry at Baltimore, Maryland, by Royal Navy ships in Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812.